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She oak If you like Australian native plants, and particularly if you like attracting native birds to your garden, think about planting a she oak. They have woody, barrel-shaped cones containing slender, winged seeds which birds like Glossy Black Cockatoos and...
Tibouchinas are native to south-east Brazil, where people use the massed purple blooms to decorate churches at Easter time. Here in Australia tibouchinas also make quite a statement in autumn, with their riot of purple flowers. Don looked at Tibouchina...
Don reworked an azalea hedge that had grown so tall it was blocking the light and obscuring the view from the house. It is very difficult to keep a hedge at exactly the same height. Even when hedges are trimmed regularly, they gradually grow taller and eventually need...
Tree Farm Ten years ago landscape designer, Michael Pfahl and horticulturist, Ronan O’Connor had problems finding large trees suitable for the landscaping projects they were working on, so they decided to grow their own. Today their nursery, Treekeepers Nursery...
Autumn is perhaps the best time of the year. That’s when clear, gentle days are filled with the russets, golds, scarlets, crimsons and the purples of all those wonderful autumn leaves. The cooler areas of Australia are the best for autumn colour – Perth,...
Fiddlewood The fiddlewood is a lovely West Indian native tree grown for its attractive foliage and fragrant flowers. Both the genus name citharexylum (from the Greek – kithara, lyre, and xylon, wood) and the common name of fiddlewood refer to the use of the...
Flowering Gums In Don’s opinion, ‘Summer Beauty’ and ‘Summer Red’ are the best flowering gum trees ever released. These plants were specially bred for the home garden. They are hybrids between the West Australian red-flowering gum...
Flowering Peaches The flowering peach, Prunus persica, was thought to have originated in Persia, hence its species name ‘persica’. However, it has long been the subject of Chinese poetry, art and tradition, and may well have been brought into cultivation...
Fringed Wattle When wattles start to flower it’s a sure sign that spring is not too far away! Some of the wattles in Don’s garden are flowering now, including the fringed wattle (Acacia fimbriata). This is a bushy Australian native shrub or small...
Juniperus chinensis ‘Kaizuka’ or the Hollywood juniper is a medium sized conifer growing to about 3m (10′) tall. It is an outstanding plant featuring slightly twisted branches which give the vivid green foliage a swirling, tufted appearance. It is...